I usually don’t read stories that involve forbidden love, so I was a little hesitant to read Did I Mention I Love You?, but in the end I’m glad that I did because it led me to Estelle Maskame.

This story was interesting for the most part, I found it to be a bit predictable at times but I find that in a lot of contemporary stories so it didn’t really bother me. I read contemporary stories for the journey the characters take, and I generally enjoy ones that involve love and soul searching in high school - and this book had that.

I’ve read some reviews where people wanted more parental presence, or how it didn’t seem real that this was a normal high school experience - but I completely related to all of it. The characters range from 16-18 years old, and we see them do nothing but party during summer break. This was high school to me - I saw all the parties, drugs, alcohol, and sex going on outside of school and it felt like an honest take on the story and I enjoyed reading about it to see where it took our characters.

As the story progressed though, I found myself wanting more from the characters besides these teenagers who just party and do reckless things all the time. I wanted to understand and know the characters underneath all of the partying. There weren’t any characters that really stood out to me, besides our main one - Eden.

I really liked Eden, I mean girl had her flaws but overall she was very relatable. She’s a very complex character - having to deal with the strain from her parent’s divorce, insecurities, and anxiety from being in a new city for the summer, all while trying to be herself still. I wanted Eden to be the voice of reason throughout the story, and she kind of was, besides her beginning to get out of her comfort zone and do things that she never enjoyed before (like partying and shopping). I understood this though, because she is a teenager and she just wanted to fit in and get through the summer without being around her dad, and feeling so lonely.. so I understood how her character started to become a bit lost in the midst of this new town and situations.

It was interesting to see how the romance was going to come into play when I began to read. Honestly, I thought I was going to find it weird that these step-siblings were going to fall for eachother - but it worked for this book. They don’t share any biological parents, so it wasn’t weird at all. I found the tension and batter cute, I think the romance developed naturally between Eden and Tyler.

Tyler isn’t my favorite love interest, he’s probably one of my least favorites to be honest. He was too much of a jerk, with not much development for me to find him swoon worthy. He started to warm up to Eden as their relationship grew into something more, but he was still so mean to the people around him - and I didn’t think he had a good excuse to be so mean. I understood “the distractions” and the anger, but I thought he directed all of it in the wrong way. I wanted to like him more than I did, but I just couldn’t. I wanted his problems to be explored more and I wanted them developed so he could redeem himself with me - but I didn’t find that.

Overall, I found this book to be good. The writing was fantastic, I’m really happy that this book led me to Estelle Maskame because she writes in a beautiful way. I could tell that she was a young author by the way she writes, but I truly believe she will only grow to become better and I look forward to reading her future work. Including - the next 2 books in this series, because even though there were flaws within the story Maskame sets up scenes throughout the story great and the relationships that grow from the characters are well done, both of these helped me to truly enjoy this book.

In the end, I wanted a bit more. I wanted more development from Eden’s soul searching - which had a lot to do with resolving her issues with her dad. I wanted more character development, and more storytelling outside of the partying and recklessness. It isn’t a deal breaker though, I think we will see more development in the next 2 books so I look forward to it.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary stories with a hint of romance and friendship within!